Zimmerman recounts Martin shooting

In a tape released Thursday by his attorney, George Zimmerman detailed his own account of what happened on the night Trayvon Martin died. The chilling video takes the neighborhood watchman back to the scene of the crime, one day after he fatally shot the unarmed African-American teenager at “intermediate range” as described in the autopsy report.

There are mixed reports of the incident, which gripped a nation and caused widespread uproar over the decision by authorities to delay pressing charges. Through the video, the public gets a first glimpse at Zimmerman’s initial round of statements to police officers in Sanford, Florida.

In the reenactment, Zimmerman said he was driving by when he past Martin was “leisurely looking” at a nearby home in the rain. “I just felt like something was off about him,” he explained.

While on the phone with non-emergency officials, Zimmerman got out of the vehicle to allegedly find a street address for the officers. A dispatcher told Zimmerman not to follow the teenager. While walking back to his car, that’s where the deadly encounter took place.

On the sidewalk, Zimmerman said “he [Martin] yelled from behind of me, to the side of me, he said, ‘Yo, you got a problem?’ And I turned around and I said, ‘No, I don’t have a problem, man.’” According to Zimmerman, Martin walked toward him and said “’Well, you got a problem now.’”

A scuffled ensued. Zimmerman said “he just punched me in the nose. And I fell backwards, to the side, somehow I ended up on my back. He ended up on top of me and he just kept punching my face and my head.”

While he was allegedly “screaming for help,” Zimmerman reported to police that Martin told him to “shut the f*** up” before reaching for Zimmerman’s firearm. Zimmerman claimed he shot Martin in self-defense under Florida’s Stand Your Ground law.

Zimmerman remains in a solitary cell in Florida’s Seminole County jail, awaiting trial for a second-degree murder charge. He has pleaded not guilty.